November 12, 2010 - It's hard to believe that Call of Duty has been around for seven years now, delivering some great experiences. Its grown from an admirable PC-only shooter to the biggest gaming franchise around. Call of Duty is notable not only for its innovative multiplayer, but also for some incredible single-player campaigns.

March 30, 2010 - With so many new videogames using history and literature as inspiration, schools should consider their potential value in the 21st Century classroom. But developers should also take steps to make sure gamers know where actual history ends and the fantasy begins.

November 6, 2009 - At a glance, Call of Duty is much like every other game out there; almost extraordinarily ordinary. To the uninitiated, it looks like another "me too" tale of heroic army men, told from a first-person perspective. But it's Call of Duty's ability to rise above the competition – and without the need for attention-grabbing gimmicks – that makes it so exceptional, even with six proper games in as many years, and just as many spin-offs. Call of Duty snatched the annual World War II franchise crown from the industry's largest publisher, and helped pave the way for Activision's world conquest. With Modern Warfare 2 just around the corner, it shows no signs of slowing down.

December 2, 2007 - Today Activision and Vivendi Games announced they have signed an agreement to combine forces and operate under the new company name Activision Blizzard. In a move that makes Activision Blizzard the world's largest online and console game publisher, the newly formed company will have access to $3.8 billion in pro forma annual revenue for 2007. As is evident under the new name, Blizzard, creators of the world's most popular MMORPG -- World of Warcraft -- will take a prominent position in the new company.

November 1, 2005 - Call of Duty 2 is a heavily scripted first-person shooter that throws approachability out the window in favor of more stylized moment to moment wow scenes. These mostly work throughout the course of this meticulously planned title, but sometimes the feverish pacing and ridiculous sense of urgency all the well-meaning events create fall victim to a few old trappings.
We believe that subject matter is of great importance in videogames and it seems that World War II in particular is being overused. While competing franchises are all vying for the most authentic and feature complete WWII crown, few have applied serious effort when it comes to telling actual stories. The War has, until now, been reserved to create a series of dramatic and familiar events players could participate in, but the connections between these events and the people that partook in them have thus far been unrecognized (again, this is in most cases).

October 17, 2005 - Activision recently held an event. At this event were many systems running Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. Following a lovely meal and a few icy colas, we sat ourselves down in front of one such system and played at being World War II heroes for a spell. We played very well. And then the Blood Rage was upon us.
Let the mothers and sisters of the Axis powers weep! Our wrath will not yield! Let the bodies of their shamed sons salt their cursed lands! We'll break every man in our path and take our victory with the iron fist of freedom! Then we'll help ourselves to all the cattle and women and wonderful chocolates of our choosing! So sayeth the Blood Rage!

September 23, 2005 - In order to expand its Call of Duty products with a greater degree of authenticity, Activision has inked a deal with the Military Channel to produce a number of vignettes to be featured in both Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360, PC) and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (PS2, Xbox, GameCube).
Dusty Welch, Activision's Vice President of Global Brand Management: "We are pleased to partner with the Military Channel for our Call of Duty brand. They are providing us with compelling World War II video content that will take players back in time and draw them even further into the epic and cinematic Call of Duty experience."

August 19, 2005 - Call of Duty 2: Big Red One marks a pretty significant change for the Call of Duty World War II shooting franchise. It's the first game in that series to really focus on specific people, anyway. While it might not be as tightly knit as Brothers in Arms (because of the epic nature of Call of Duty) it should at least let gamers get a little more comfortable with the main character and his teammates.
Until today we've only seen a little Italian action in Big Red One, but the famed Fighting First American unit from which the game is named was all over the place. So at the Leipzig Gamers Convention in Germany, Activision decided to show a bit of the game's North African campaign.

August 17, 2005 - "World War II-era first-person shooters are totally played out."
Christian Busic, creative director at Treyarch, thinks the above statement is ludicrous. On the contrary, Busic, the man behind Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, believes that W.W.II can never really go stale. That specific era brims with thousands of different stories, argues Busic, and just as many ways to tell them. That's why Big Red One, sequel to Call of Duty: Finest Hour, has turned to the titular 'Big Red One' to drive the action and narrative. Now, if only we knew what 'Big Red One' stood for

August 1, 2005 - Big Red One was born out of the ashes of Finest Hour. We took [Finest Hour] and deconstructed it, looked at what worked and what didn't and decided there were a few sweeping changes that needed to be made. One of the big departures from the tried and true Call of Duty experience was to take the "No One Fights Alone" theme, which had always played out through the Russian, British and American campaigns and takes it to a personal level. This time we follow the same soldier in the 16th regiment of the Big Red One, which is the U.S. Army's First Infantry Division, also known as the Fighting First. We felt this was a good direction to follow. It's something the fans had mentioned they would like. It's also something that I personally brought to the series and wanted to do.

August 1, 2005 - Authenticity is key when creating a game based on real heroes. With the case of Call of Duty: Big Red One, Treyarch enlisted the aid of two military advisors who, by all accounts, seriously know whay they're talking about. Read on for proof.